What is your favorite travel memory?
The first trip to Asia I took was to Japan. It was the first time I had really travelled or been anywhere far away from home. Experiencing a totally different culture, especially one such as Japan was really eye opening for me. I found every part of that trip truly fascinating and it was the catalyst for me to continue travelling and stay in Asia for many years as teacher.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I started this company to give first time teachers a better experience than I had and to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible. Starting a company at a fairly young age was always going to be difficult, but it has taught me the joys of life and that helping others achieve their dreams by teaching abroad, is one of my greatest passions.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
A few of years ago we had a big group heading out to China, and during the group chat prior to departing, those applicants were very active (more so than any other group) I knew they'd all get a long very well when meeting in real life, but still so many years later, some of them are in relationships, best friends and still living their dream out in China. It is nice to see that for some people teaching abroad is not just a gap year style thing, but a lifelong journey.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
It is a tough choice, but I would choose China (I also lived there for a few years), mainly because it has so much to offer for many different applicants. There are schools who are happy to work with applicants who are just looking for a gap year style placement, other schools to work with applicants looking to pursue a career in teaching and even something in between for the applicants who aren't too sure where they want the journey to take them. Financially, you are very well looked after in China too.
Exploring a country as vast as China is not something you get to do very often and it has a unique atmosphere that differs to so many other countries.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
We really take the time to get to know our applicants. We don't use email very often, a lot of communication is done via WhatsApp/WeChat both in group chats and personally. You don't get that level of personal support many other places.
Applicants get a lot of preferences with all of the programmes and we don't always just focus on the teaching. We focus on personal goals, both short and long term. We focus on applicants being able to achieve what they want to achieve outside of teaching too. For example, many past applicants nowadays still live out in Asia and have transitioned away form teaching and we can offer support and advice how to do that.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
Having the right team, who are all share the same passions and motivations. Here at TFT that main priority is personal service and being totally transparent with applicants. It has been an important part of the company from day 1 and if the small things are taken care of, the big things will take care of themselves.